The birth rate began returning to normal in several leading hospitals here
yesterday following a sharp rise nine months after the 1965 blackout.

Fertility experts and statisticians, meanwhile, disclosed studies that
linked increased birth rates to times of crisis.

Figures released by St. Luke's Hospital, which reported three times the
average number of births daily for a seven-day period, dropped to nearly twice
the average Wednesday, the last day for which figures were available. The
hospital, which averages 5 births daily, had 14 to 15 births for a week, and 9
births Wednesday.

Mount Sinai Hospital, which had 28 births Monday, had 16 Tuesday and 17
Wednesday, compared with an average of 11, for the largest three-day total in
the hospital's history.

Bronx Municipal, which averages 7 births daily, had 16 Tuesday, but only 9
Wednesday; Brookdale, which averages 10, had 15 on Monday and Tuesday, and
14 on Wednesday. Brooklyn Jewish, which averages 15, had 18 on Wednesday.

Births and Crises

An average number of births on Wednesday was reported by New York
Hospital, Columbia-Presbyterian, St. Vincent's, Cumberland, Methodist, Harlem,
Coney Island, French, University Jewish Memorial and Kings County hospitals.
Far below average was Bellevue, where only one birth was reported, compared to
an average of six.

A relationship between birth rates and crises was disclosed yesterday by
statisticians of the National Office of Vital Statistics. Its figures showed
that seasonally adjusted fertility rates rose sharply nine months after
national and international crises. The statistics are based on the number of
births per 1,000 women 15 to 44 years of age, adjusted for seasonal variations.
August and September are the heaviest months. The rate so far this year is
93.

For example, nine months after Pearl Harbor Day, the national birth rate,
which usually fluctuates by a point or two, rose eleven points. In New York
City the rise was so swift that the Health Department ran out of birth
certificates.

Dropped After Assassination

The national birth rate also rose nine months after the outbreak of the
Korean war. The rate dropped by six points nine months after the assassination
of President Kennedy.

The highest recorded national birth rate occurred in August of 1956, with
134 births per 1,000 women. No major national event was recorded nine months
previously. Ten and a half months earlier, however, President Eisenhower had a
heart attack.

Dr. Christopher Tietze, research director of the National Committee on
Maternal Health, recalled a month-by-month study of births in the Netherlands
that disclosed a sharp rise.

However, he said that he was "deeply skeptical" of any relationship between
the blackout and the purported birth rise. "I'll wait until we get all the
births in the city," he said.

Dr. Alan F. Guttmacher, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of
America, pointed out that August is normally a heavy month for births, and
called the relationship between the blackout and the birth increases "a most
engaging happenstance."